The Worst Night Since the Last Worst Night
by HopeyMcHope
Summary: With the other diary holders dead, Yuno and Yukiteru have been living at the Gasai household and watching the the number of singularities steadily increase as the apocalypse looms. After a day of distrust and hurt feelings on 7/25, sleep doesn't come easily for either of them - leading to a 3:00 a.m. conversation. (Takes place during Episode 23: "Breach of Contract") COMPLETE!
1. Yuno

"Hey Yuki, you asleep yet?"

Yuno Gasai called through the hole that had been punched in the shōji diving their rooms, but there was no answer. She thought she might've heard a little movement, but nothing more.

Still sitting up with her pillow in her lap, she closed her eyes.

 _It's okay,_ she thought. _He just lost his friends. He just needs a little time._

 _Time we don't have._

Yuno swiftly threw the pillow behind her back and laid her head down upon it. As she settled under the covers, she could feel a lump forming in her throat. She was struggling to even process the concept that she and Yuki had only a few short days left together before this world was destroyed.

As she stared at the ceiling, Yuno slid her right hand up underneath her pillow. Near the top edge of the bed, she could feel the wooden handle of her favorite hatchet forming a hard, lengthwise lump where she kept it hidden beneath the sheets.

Yuno rubbed that lump lightly with the tip of her index finger, trying to find solace. Things always felt simpler with a blade in her hand, and the hatchet she slept with had become a regular source of comfort during the past few months.

Tonight, however, the hatchet wasn't enough to make her situation seem any simpler. Yuno's mind continued to race.

 _Did I go through this hell just so my man could hate me? Did I kill all those people, save his life all those times, just so he could leave me alone at the end?_

 _Maybe I deserve it. I don't belong in this world - I probably don't even belong with him. I took it for granted that he'd just automatically love me again, regardless of everything that's changed... and I've always been a selfish, ungrateful little bitch.  
_

Tears welled at the edges of her eyes. She shut her eyelids tight, fighting them back.

 _No. NononononononoNONO. That's mom talking. Fuck that. You're a good girlfriend. You're a GREAT girlfriend. You've been his partner - his rock - during all this crap. You'd do ANYTHING for him. You've already done damn near everything imaginable for him._

 _Not that he cares. He didn't even trust you enough to eat the dinner you cooked. He basically told you earlier that he doesn't feel safe. He thinks you're nuts._

She raised her head up slightly, then slammed it back onto the pillow. Then she did it again.

Violence usually solved things cleanly for Yuno, but this wasn't one of those times. She knew she couldn't smack these thoughts out of her mind. She didn't want to feel like this. She couldn't stand to THINK like this.

 _I trust him completely. I trust him with my life. He knows I love him. He's told me he loves me, and I've gotta believe that. Not everything is about my problems. He's gotta become god soon. He's gotta kill his girlfriend soon. Who wouldn't feel overwhelmed?_

 _You were never good enough. You were never pretty enough. Luck and circumstance let you two fall in love the the first time. What made you think you could win him over a second time?_

"Shuttup," she muttered quietly to herself. She felt stupid when she realized she had said it aloud. Despite Yuno's better efforts, the tears were streaming down her cheeks now.

 _You went too far when you pitted him against his friends. That's when you lost him. You let him believe what MurMur told him about resurrecting everybody, you forced him to kill his own friends... you can't come back from that. He's never gonna forgive you._

 _We're running out of days. They were protecting Eighth from Yuki. They didn't choose him, they chose some woman they didn't know. They tried to turn him against me. I didn't have a choice._

Yuno bit her lower lip so hard that it hurt, causing her jerk her head to the side as though she was going to escape her own teeth. She was lying to herself now, and she knew it.

 _Of course you had a choice. You just always choose what comes easiest for you: Killing.  
_

She thought back to dinner, when she had thrown herself at Yuki's knees and sobbed, pleading for him to understand. Right now, as she sobbed alone in her bed, she felt like she was back in that moment - crying over her own failings as well as the question of whether Yuki could ever see past them in the time they had left.

 _"Look,"_ she had pleaded with him. _"I know it freaks you out that I'm crazy good at killing people, and I know I might not be as pretty as some of the other girls, but goddamn it, cut me some slack! Everything I've done, I did to get the bad stuff over with... so we could be together."_

Yuno wanted him to understand that she wasn't a threat to him, and that she didn't want them to waste these precious few days. They had so little time to live peacefully together and enjoy one another before the end of the world. Didn't he see that?

He told her then, though. _"It's nothing personal... I just feel in over my head."_

She had to take the statement at face value. She had to trust him.

 _Even if he can't trust me, I can still trust him. I always have._

 _He's going to come around. He's got to._

She pulled out her phone from beneath the covers, letting its light fall onto her face.

"7/28 21:10  
Yuki and Yuno come together.  
HAPPY END"

She smiled tightly, blinking away her tears. Even after today, the future hadn't changed.

 _That's right_ , she thought. _I haven't ruined it. I haven't driven him away. We're still on target... still on schedule for the happiest day of my life_.

Yuno wiped her eyes with her blanket. Her previous record-holder for "happiest day of her life" was the trip to that Bridal Expo they had taken just a few short months back. She grinned to herself as she relived the experience in her head.

 _Hard to imagine I could top that one,_ she thought. _But I will. WE will. I know it._

She sat up in bed again, staring down at her phone's prediction with love.

 _It's been there for months, and nothing we've gone through has erased it. We'll be together when it really counts. I just need to be... patient... until then.  
_

She let out a ragged sigh. Patience wasn't coming easily to her right now.

 _I mean, sure, I won't get to hit pay dirt until there's roughly three hours left in existence... but a little waiting is a small price to pay at this point, right?_

 _Just Remember: Three days until I experience total bliss._

 _Three days until my pookie becomes the god of all existence._

Laying back down, she closed her eyes.

 _And three days until he kills me._

A contented smile spread across Yuno's face.

 _Can't imagine a better way to go!_


	2. Yukiteru

Yukiteru Amano awoke with a jolt.

 _Hinata..._

He sat up sharply, staring into the surrounding darkness. Another nightmare. Another time he had to relive one of the worst days of his life.

Yuki had experienced a lot of "Worst Days of His Life" lately. It had been that kind of year.

The Survival Game based around the Future Diaries had been the kickoff to him seeing, doing, and experiencing a lot of things he never wanted. He'd seen a lot of people killed — including his own parents — and even killed many people in return.

 _Akise, Hinata, Mao, Kosaka... God, they're all gone now._

 _Maybe forever._

Yuki gritted his teeth.

He'd spent the past three days struggling to wrap his mind around two things in particular:

\- What really happened between him and his now-former friends?  
\- How exactly should he feel about Yuno?

The two questions were inexorably intertwined in his mind. If his friends died for no reason, Yuno was at least partly accountable.

 _Not that she pulled the trigger on Hinata, Mao, or Kosaka. That's on me._

Yuki felt tears coming through his eyes and wiped them away quickly with his fingers, trying to regain his composure.

Regardless of what his mind told him, there was also the matter of his heart, which didn't always listen to logic. In spite of anything she'd done — _or maybe even BECAUSE of what she's done_ , he considered with a chill — he cared a lot about Yuno. He cared deeply. He wanted to make her happy, he worried about her sanity, and he felt happier when he was near her.

 _So weird_ , Yuki thought. _Back in April, I was terrified of being alone with her. Now... I don't think I'd want to be apart from her again.  
_

 _Just remember: Even if I might be in love with a psycho, that doesn't mean I'm not deeply stupid for feeling that way._

Before he could really dig into his confused inner pity party, Yuki noticed the sense of urgency from his bladder. He turned and reached for his cell phone at the side of the bed. Flipping it open, he checked the time at the top — _ugh, 3:08 a.m._ _—_ as well as his diary's next upcoming prediction.

"3:11 a.m. 7/26

Used Yuno's bathroom and washed hands."

 _There go my hopes for just holding it and going back to sleep_ , Yuki thought in resignation.

Taking his phone with him, he sat up sharply and reached for the oversized black robe hanging on the wall.

 _October chills_ , he thought as he slipped the robe on. _I appreciate that she got the water running, but I wish Yuno could borrow some HEAT from her neighbors, too.  
_

Sliding the shogi of his room open, he turned his phone around and pointed the light from the screen down the hallway.

 _You're avoiding the issue,_ he thought, scolding himself. _Confront it: What if they were telling the truth? What if there's no way to bring anyone back?_

Yuki inhaled sharply, steeling himself for the latest round of mental torture he was about to put himself through as he began walking down the hall.

 _Okay, that's... horrifying, sure. Devastating, even._

He swallowed hard.

 _I need to think like Akise usually did; I need to think about this logically._

 _So then: What are the chances they were telling me the truth? How does that make sense? And if they were telling the truth, what were they hoping to achieve by telling me this and protecting Eighth?_

 _Gotta set up all the pieces here. Okay, Hinata said that Akise learned from Deus that no one who's died can be resurrected. Akise said that Yuno will kill me "when the time is right." All of them said that Yuno was lying to me about bringing back mom and dad... or anyone else, for that matter. Hinata was particularly insistent about it._

 _But Yuno wasn't the one who told me about that trick in the first place. That was MurMur — although THEY couldn't have known that._

 _I can't seem to contact Deus for an audience to confirm any of this, but when we last spoke, he sure IMPLIED to me that he could've brought back my parents it if his powers weren't so weakened. Then MurMur came right out and told me that the power to resurrect mom and dad was within my grasp if I won the game._

 _So... was Deus leading me on? If so, then MurMur had to be lying outright. And in that case, Yuno might be guilty of leading me on as well_ _ _—_ although that's ONLY if she knows about the whole thing being a lie. _

_It's possible Akise and the others learned that the dead can't be brought back, but Yuno doesn't know that because she got the same information I did. In which case she never really lied to me, but they didn't know that she believed it._

 _Could they have turned on Yuno because of a presumed lie that she wasn't even responsible for? Was all of this a giant misunderstanding?_

 _Not that they couldn't have had other reasons. Whatever her good points are, Yuno does have some, uh... character flaws.  
_

 _Okay, but if she was truly lying to me, Yuno would've had to know that the dead can't return in order to truly lie about it. Where would she have heard otherwise, though? Maybe if she talked to Deus herself?_

 _There's no reason for him to tell two different parties two different things. What would be the point? We could learn the disconnect at any time just by talking it out.  
_

 _But he's a god. So maybe he always knew we wouldn't talk about it?_

 _Ugh. I can practically hear Deus shrugging this whole train of thought off from way down here. "Wheels within wheels, lad." The same way he shrugged off my distaste for violence and death. Who cares if you're an actual GOD? Deaths, births, lies, manipulations — it all happens every day.  
_

 _Getting sidetracked. FOCUS, Yuki.  
_

 _Right, then there's MurMur. The imp's annoying and likes to pull pranks, sure, but she doesn't seem... devious. Besides, it's not like she can defy Deus, right? She's his servant first and foremost. Her whole reason to exist is to serve the god of space and time and all that.  
_

 _Regardless of what Yuno IS hiding something. I can tell that much. I can always hear it in her voice when she's dodging me. Still, why? Why bother hiding your cards this late in the game? Maybe I just don't know enough about girls to understand what's too personal for them to share... or maybe her secrecy supports these doubts I'm having. But then again..._

Yuki looked down and realized he'd been standing at the entrance to the bathroom for a while now, keeping his hand on the door without actually entering.

He smiled at his own foolishness. _Too much thinking and not enough peeing, Yuki._ Chuckling a little at himself, he finally pulled the door open, set his phone on the counter next to the sink, and took care of business.

After washing his hands, he looked into the mirror above the sink. Staring himself in the eyes, he continued his thought process while he dried his hands with the nearby towel.

 _On the flip side, it's just as likely that Akise was lying — not Yuno or MurMur or Deus. That actually seems to make more sense. After all, he wasn't a true diary user. He was an apprentice of Eighth's diary at the end, I guess, but not one of the main twelve. Therefore, he shouldn't have had any way to get an audience with Deus on his own, despite what Hinata said. And that makes him lying seem like the most likely scenario.  
_

 _Why do it, though? He was always so logical and rational. He went out of his way to save me from Yuno when she went off the deep end a couple of months ago. So why would he lie about something like this? Why now? And why drag the others into it? It all feels out of character._

With a sigh, Yuki hung the hand towel back up and picked his phone back up again. Flipping it open for light, he exited the bathroom. He felt a bit thirsty, so he decided to go right on past his room and get some water in the kitchen.

 _I know Akise was trying to kill Yuno. That much seems pretty clear. He never trusted her for a second, and the others never liked her that much either. He seemed pleased with his diary's prediction that he was going to kill her. Was that the only reason for any of this, though? Did they just want to tell me that the dead stay dead in order to turn me against Yuno, because they believed that she had planted the idea in my head from the start, and they figured I'd be angry with her if they said it wasn't true? Was this all a ploy just to tear me and Yuno apart and kill her because they were afraid of her?  
_

 _If so, why bother trying to hide and protect Eighth? Did they decide Eighth should win instead of me? S_ _ _ure seems that way.__

 _ _Maybe Akise made some kind of trade for his special apprentice diary. He keeps an eye on the remaining users, and she gets protection. "You scratch my back" and all that. Not that there was much point in doing so when we were down to the last three or four primary users anyway.  
__

 _ _So_ maybe Akise was afraid that Yuno would kill me as soon as Eighth was out of the running? That'd be another reason to keep Eighth away. He did say Yuno was waiting to kill me at some unknown time.  
_

Even slightly considering the possibility that Yuno would ever murder him made Yuki shiver a little. He paused and wrapped his robe around his body more tightly.

 _No, that's insane. Yuno's crazy about me, and whether it makes sense to anybody or not, I adore her now. Why would she have bothered to protect me and save my life so many times if she just wanted to murder me later? There's no logical way she would be waiting for it to be down to the two of us just so she could kill me then. It'd be much easier to kill me earlier, in any of about a hundred different scenarios she's kept me alive through._

As Yuki approached the kitchen, he thought he heard some strange noises. Even so, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really pay them much mind.

 _Then again, Yuno's kind of insane herself. Maybe the idea of killing me last makes sense in her whacked-out brain._

 _No, no way. Just look at the facts: You've been alone with her for the past four days. She could've killed you any time she wanted, and you'd be defenseless. You're sleeping in the room right next to her, separated by only a paper-thin wall. The world is about to end, so there's nothing to hold her back. And despite ALL of that, she hasn't made a single move to hurt you. Hey, you've also read enough of her diary to know that her feelings for you are real.  
_

Yuki groaned quietly to himself and rubbed his sinuses with his left hand. Maybe the sounds he thought he was hearing were born from his increasing headache.

 _No matter what, SOMEBODY has been trying to play me. Maybe they've even succeeded. How the hell should I know?_

 _But even someone that's lying might have a kernel of truth in what they say. Even if they were wrong about Yuno wanting me dead, that doesn't mean they were wrong about the resurrection thing._

 _But... but..._

He stopped progressing with either his thought process or his footsteps before turning the corner into the kitchen. There was definitely a noise coming from in there. It sounded... metallic, or maybe mechanical?

 _Ker-shink!_ went the first sound. After a moment, an _uh-ching!_ followed. A few seconds later, both sounds repeated.

 _Ker-shink. Uh-ching._

Yuki turned his phone around to check his diary.

"3:14 a.m. 7/26

Went to kitchen for some water. Bumped into Yuno."

 _Aw, crap!_ Yuki thought. _There's no way us talking right now is going anywhere good after how I left things last night._ _I should've read farther ahead in my stupid diary!_

 _No big deal, I can just turn back around and sneak back to my room. No harm, no foul._

 _Ker-shink. Uh-ching._

Yuki turned on his heel slowly...

...and the floorboard squeaked as he pivoted.

"Is that you, sweetie?" Yuno's voice called.

Yuki cringed instantly. _The jig is up. Oh well._

He tried to relax himself and look on the bright side. _It's not like I don't like seeing her face..._

Hesitantly, he stepped around the corner and into the kitchen.


	3. Yuki & Yuno, Tentatively

As he stepped into the kitchen, Yuki finally saw the source of the sounds he kept hearing. Yuno was standing there with a glass of water in her right hand. In her left, she was pulling a carving knife out of the knife block on the counter, then dropping it back into place, then repeating the action over and over. There was a _ker-shink_ as she withdrew it and an _uh-ching_ as she dropped it back into the block. The noises repeated each time as she pulled the knife out, then in. Out, then in. Out, then in.

It looked like… well, it wasn't really appropriate to say what it looked like. Yuki did his best not to stare at the knife block, locking his face onto Yuno's. "Uhhh, hiii," he said gently. "Sorry. You, uh… you having trouble sleeping?"

Yuno nodded a little. _Ker-shink_. "The sirens outside woke me up a few minutes ago," she told him. "Lots of traffic noise on the nearest streets, too, so that didn't help." _Uh-ching_. "I felt thirsty, so I just came in for a quick sip."

"Same here," Yuki said in agreement. _Ker-shink_. "The thirst part, I mean. I didn't actually hear anything from outside." He felt a lot more nervous than he would've liked, and only partly because Yuno was playing with the knife. _Uh-ching._ It was also partly due to seeing Yuno in her short purple nightgown.

"They're evacuating the city," Yuno explained _._ _Ker-shink_. "I wonder where they think they're gonna go. There's no running away from this one." _Uh-ching_. "Sad and stupid, really." _Ker-shink_.

 _Operation: Don't Look at the Knife Block is a spectacular failure,_ Yuki thought to himself. _Maybe I can get her to move away from it instead_.

"Soooooo," Yuki began awkwardly. He paused and tried to smile in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood. "Do you, uh… like crescent moons?" he asked, gesturing towards the kitchen window.

 _Totally lame, Yukiteru_ , he thought. _At least I sound like I was joking_.

Yuno turned and moved away from the knife block, setting her glass of water on the counter as she went. _Thank GOD_ , Yuki thought quietly, gritting his teeth in a combination of delayed stress and sharp relief.

As Yuno got closer to the window, she appeared to become transfixed by the sight of the moon. She stopped in the middle of the floor, staring up at the light beaming down upon her. "They're okay," she answered him finally. The serious tone of her response was entirely at odds with Yuki's goofy question.

As she kept her gaze fixated on the moon, Yuki saw the shimmer of tears around the edges of her eyes. "They look pointy and cool," Yuno continued. "Not my favorites, though." She smiled sadly at the sky for some reason that was beyond Yuki.

A lot of things about Yuno were beyond Yuki's understanding, but the sight of her tears definitely gave him a pain in his chest and a lump in his throat. _God – to think I used to not even CARE about her feelings,_ he thought. Though now he could scarcely believe that time had existed, he reflected on how he used to be terrified of Yuno even when she was smiling. _Hell_ , he thought. _That might've been when he found her the MOST terrifying._

His mind flashed on the image of Yuno, her face smeared with blood, smiling gleefully after she'd driven her hatchet into the skulls of a few unsuspecting cultists lying on the ground within Tsubaki's temple. _She really freaked me right the hell out that day_ , he mused. _And that wasn't even one of her worst days. Nothing's been as bad as the trip to the mountains._

He shuddered slightly – an involuntary reaction to recalling maybe the worst experience of his life. Unfortunately, the competition for the title of Worst Experience had only gotten more heated since their ill-fated stargazing trip.

So how on this dying Earth had he gotten to the point where he pined for Yuno's smile and felt comforted by it?

 _I guess this is love,_ he considered. _Or co-dependency. Or maybe it's the best Stockholm Syndrome EVER_. Sometimes, he still wasn't sure.

 _What kind of guy would I be if I hadn't gotten attached to her_ _?_ he asked himself. _We've practically lived in each other's pockets for the past few months. It's only natural that something grew out of that_.

Even now, though, when he felt like when he wanted nothing more than to see her happy, Yuki couldn't bring himself to feel entirely complacent around her. Once again, Aru Akise's words echoed around in his mind.

 _"When the time is right, she's going to murder you."_

The conviction in Akise's voice sounded compelling, but Yuki still didn't buy into Akise's claim at the time. Even so... it was one of the last things Akise ever got to say. And somehow, that fact gave his words more weight.

 _To say nothing of the fact that she's definitely a psychopath_ , Yuki thought, inhaling sharply.

 _But god damn it all, she's MY psychopath_. _If she only wanted to win, she had at least 17 opportunities to kill me in the last day ALONE._

 _She's not in this for godhood_ , he decided definitively. _She's in it for me._ _That's GOT to be beyond any doubt by now._

After a long silence between them, Yuki reached out and gently placed his right hand on Yuno's left shoulder, attempting to comfort her. Yuno took the gesture as an invitation and, in one swift move, she slid two feet to her left, colliding with Yuki's chest and forcing his arm around her.

"Guh-ick!" Yuki sputtered in surprise. If Yuno heard him or cared about his reaction, she gave no indication.

Yuki's unintentional grunt was followed by another period of silence as Yuno kept her eyes fixated on the window, staring wistfully at the waxing moon. After a few seconds, Yuki turned his head to meet her eyes. He was surprised to find that she didn't return his gaze, but remained focused on the sky.

 _She's really deep in thought,_ he pondered. Despite all of his doubts about her, he couldn't help but smile a little as he examined her adorable face. _That beautiful face is masking a whole lotta crazy_ , he reminded himself. Yet the internal warning changed nothing about how he felt right now. Whenever she leaned into him like this – the same way she did after they broke free of the Omekata cult, and the same way she did when she passed out during their bus ride into the mountains – he couldn't help himself. He felt a warmth in his chest, a surge of unwarranted joy.

Before he could ask what was on her mind, she spoke.

"We've had to grow up too fast…. " she said softly.

Yuki nodded in agreement, even if she wasn't looking at him to see the gesture. "Funny to think that just this past February, my biggest worry was maintaining my grades," Yuki said. Now it was his own turn to wear that sad smile. "It's been non-stop escalation since I received my diary. From the piles of corpses to mass terrorism to this… this freakin' apocalypse."

"Those piles were mostly made of MY corpses," Yuno replied softly. Her voice was sad as she said it, yet there was something else that Yuki saw glinting in her eyes – maybe even the start of a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. _What IS that look?_ he wondered. _Is it... pride? Satisfaction?_ Yuki felt a small twinge of nausea in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it.

"Don't look so— I mean, don't BE so hard on yourself," Yuki stated in return. He was worried that he sounded uncertain, but she didn't seem to flinch at his words, so he continued. "You had to defend us, and you did an amazing job. I'm just sorry that I've been holding you back."

Yuno turned her body sharply to stare into his eyes, placing left hand on Yuki's right arm. Her right hand remained draped out of sight."Don't say that," she told him firmly. Her eyes were still wet, even as she tried to take a make her face look commanding. "Who saved me from Fourth and Sixth, huh? Even before that, who charged forth to rescue me from Ninth and Fifth?" Her commanding face had transitioned into a sweet smile that made Yuki's heart melt. "Besides, you've more than stepped up ever since Seventh. And really, I wouldn't have done nearly as well if I didn't have you for my motivation."

Yuno turned away once more, moving herself into a slightly more central position in front of Yukiteru. Now, when she leaned back, her head was sitting along his right shoulder, right beside his. He could smell something sweet and flowery coming from her hair. Yuki reached his hands around her waist without thinking — and then bit his lip just a tad as she pressed her rear into his groin. _Think clean thoughts,_ he insisted to himself as Yuno returned to looking out the window.

"I need you," Yuno continued softly. "I've always needed you. You are my reason to live, sugar bear. And soon, you'll be my reason to die."

Yuki's stomach dropped at both her words and the pleasant sense of serenity in her voice as she said them. If he was worried about getting aroused before, that threat was certainly over now.

Yuno continued to speak in a quiet, happy tone, remaining utterly oblivious to his discomfort. "And you're going to be a great god. You're creative, you're sensitive, you're—"

"God damn – the, let's – don't think about that right now, okay?" Yuki said haltingly, interrupting her. In truth, Yuki had serious doubts that he was up to murdering his own girlfriend. That was an especially grim proposition now that he'd been confronted with the possibility — nay, maybe even the likelihood — that there was no way for him to bring ANYONE back to life. It was a lot easier to forget about her death when he expected it to last for two minutes tops. The current situation had no such silver lining.

 _It's not just that I don't THINK I can_ , he admitted privately. _It's that I can't even imagine going through with it, and where does that leave us?_

 _Maybe we should ask Deus for a third choice,_ Yuki considered. _Is there another way?_

"Hey... " he ventured. "It's kind of unfair that we've been forced into this situation, isn't it? I mean, how come Seventh got to share their role in the game as a couple, and we don't?"

Yuno sighed. "I thought the same thing. I even asked Deus about it," she said. "I guess... they were committed before the survival game, whereas we came together after."

"No late-game adjustments to the rules, then?" Yuki asked. He was deeply disappointed, but he tried to keep a hopeful tone in his words.

Yuno shook her head slowly. "In case you haven't noticed, Deus is a real jerk."

Despite how crestfallen he felt, he still managed to smirk at her boldness. "I'm not sure that we should talk trash about, you know, GOD."

Yuno turned her head to look at Yuki's face. "Whatever," she snarked. "The guy set up a murder-based game where he was willing to grant godhood to any one out of numerous violent lunatics. Just calling it like I see it."

"Fair enough," Yuki answered with a chuckle. _And since YOU are one of his chosen violent lunatics_ , he considered, _maybe some of them were even like you? Maybe some of them weren't as bad as they seemed. Maybe they had good qualities and deserved happiness of their own.  
_

 _Well... probably not Third._

"Anyway," Yuno continued obliviously, "I'm not the goddess type. It's best for everyone if it's you in the end. We don't want some psycho bitch watching all of time and space, right?" she asked with a giggle.

Yuki swallowed hard. He just told her to "Just cut that out, all right? I don't want you beating up on yourself any more." He turned his head to face her with a smile. "That's my girl you're talking about, you know!"

Yuno lit up instantly when he hit the words "my girl," and she spun her whole body to face him, a giddy grin lighting up her face. "You're damn right I'm your girl!" she responded, wrapped her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

And that was when he felt it, pressed flat against his back. In her right hand, Yuno was still holding the damned carved knife.

The sensation of the cold metal pushing up against his robe caused a visceral reaction. "What the HELL?!" Yuki yelped as he jerked sideways, bounding out of her arms and skittering a few steps away until he bumped his back into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Yuno's face fell into shock and despair. "I... " she tried to talk, but her arms went limp, and the carving knife clattered to the floor. Then, inevitably, she began to cry in earnest. "I thought-" she began to choke between sobs. "I thought we were making up! Damn it, Yuki, why do you have to BE like this?!"

Yuki felt his stomach knot when he realized how hurt she was, but his shock and fear simultaneously kept him from closing the fresh distance between them. "Just... I'm sorry, but PLEASE," he implored. "I need to know why you were still holding that knife!"

Yuno spun and reached, quickly yanking a small paring knife from the knife block before turning back to face Yuki. He took another half-step back in return, and that only seemed to make her face fall further.

"Don't you GET it?" she yelled in frustration. Her voice cracked as she said, "I feel BETTER with a blade in my hand! It COMFORTS me! Everything is SIMPLER when I can just slash and stab all my damned problems!"

Yuno slumped onto her knees, sobbing. "This... this is who I am, sweetie," she acknowledged. "And I thought you'd seen past that. That you had either embraced or maybe even forgiven my flaws by now."

"Of course I have," Yuki told her quickly. His resolve was somewhat crumbling at the sight of her breakdown. "You KNOW I have."

Yuno hung her head, even as she picked up the fallen carving knife in her left hand. "I was playing with the knives because we had such a bad night," she explained, stopping to swallow and wipe away some of her tears. "Another bad night. After everything I've done to protect you and take care you, you STILL can't trust me, you avoid me, and you just think I'm a... I'm a nutjob again."

Even though he felt like a total heel for making Yuno cry, Yuki's nerves were still frazzled. Despite remaining on alert, he took a step closer to Yuno. Looking down at her, he told her "Look, I know I wasn't exactly at my best today. And like I told you before, part of it was just the weight of everything that's happening... or has happened." He paused to take a deep breath. "And you're wrong about me thinking you're just a nutjob. But you're also right: I'm still dealing with some doubts."

Yuno looked up at him with puffy eyes and pleaded. "Really? Even after I've everything I've done for you? For US?"

Yuki started to tear up now, too. "Look, I don't WANT to doubt you! I LOVE you, for god's sake. But you just keep so many secrets, and I... can't help how uncomfortable that makes me. It seems like I learn something new about you every week. And some of it doesn't add up."

"You mean like the things Akise told you?" Yuno said. Thinly veiled contempt was laced throughout the way she uttered Aru's name.

Yuki acted as though he either didn't notice or didn't care about her feelings towards Akise, and simply said "Sure, some of it stems from that, but it goes back even deeper, too. It goes back as far as you hiding those bodies in your house in the first place, and it extends all the way up to what happened at the old Gasai Bank."

Yuno stood up from the floor, hanging her head low. With her eyes directed at her feet, she nevertheless managed to turn towards the knife block, take a step, and seamlessly place both the carving and paring knives into the block. _Uh-ching._

"Why does that have to matter?" she asked. Her voice sounded desperate now.

"Don't you get it?" Yuki asked. "Do you know how many people I've trusted and been betrayed by over the course of this thing? My dad betrayed me, my friends betrayed me, and that's just the big ones. My teacher at school? Tried to kill me. A police officer who swore to protect us? Framed us and tried to kills us. A girl who begged me for help? Tried to kill me AND rape you. Who the hell WOULDN'T have some trust issues by now?"

Yuno nodded to herself. "I guess, yeah."

"Ultimately," Yuki continued, "When it came down to you or all of my friends, I still chose you. Above all else, that proves that you've GOT me. You know I'd tell you anything you want to know, and that I trust you a lot. But I'm still nervous because I'm in love with someone who's hiding things from me... and I can't figure out why you're still keeping secrets when we've come this far."

Her hands slid down to the countertop, but she didn't turn around to face Yuki. He couldn't even make out her eyes beneath her hair when she finally spoke in a hushed, pained tone. "Anything I've ever hid... EVERY secret I've ever kept... it was for you. It was always for you. I just wanted to protect you — to make you happy."

Yuki's eyes drifted to the floor, too. He was nervous to point out the things that worried him, scared of the answers he might get, nervous about what she could possibly be protecting him from... he had so many questions, so many things that he wanted to say that he felt completely overwhelmed and unable to deal with the answers he might get, let alone asking the questions in the first place.

Yuno sniffed in a way that sounded extremely loud in the quiet, dark kitchen. She choked back a sob.

And finally, Yuki spoke.

"Is that really true?" he asked softly.

She turned her head to the side, making one eye visible in the moonlight. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean," Yuki explained, "Have you kept all of these secrets to protect me? Or were some of them to protect YOU?"

Yuno grimaced in pain and looked away, but she said nothing.

After a long, painful silence in which both of them stood and let tears fall onto the floor, Yuki finally lifted his head to face her again.

"I meant what I said," he assured her. "I mean, when I told you that I love you. And that despite that, I'm still nervous about us. And most importantly, that I don't WANT to doubt you at all. It just comes with all the crap we've been through and all the betrayals I've already experienced. And honestly? At the end of the world, what could you POSSIBLY have to hide from me?"

Yuno turned her body to lean her back against the counter again, but she didn't manage to look at him very long before she covered her eyes with both hands as she cried. She continued to give no answer.

Yuki rubbed his own eyes with both hands, getting the tears out before he continued. "So here's my idea: You can help me find new faith in you. It doesn't take much. You don't have to tell me everything. I'm asking you to tell me one thing."

Yuno lowered her hands so she could fold her arms and shrug her shoulders. She had no idea what he was asking for now. Her voice was scarcely a hoarse whisper when she finally said "What?"

"Just tell me one thing that you've kept from me," he said. "It's not a demand or anything, and you don't have to give me every detail. I know you can't always remember everything that pains you, either. But it'd mean a lot to me if you'd give me something."

Yuno furrowed her brow in something that looked like both worry and fear. Yuki locked his eyes with hers, and he spoke from his heart.

"Please, Yuno. Tell me something I don't know."


	4. Yuno & Yuki, Definitively

"Tell me something I don't know."

From there, Yuno's mind began racing. She felt herself start to panic.

 _What?_

 _What?_

 _What is he doing?_

 _What does he think I'll say?_

 _What does he expect?_

"But... " Yuno began slowly, "How will you know I'm not just lying about whatever I tell you?" She looked over at him with her eyes wide, giving her an air of innocence in spite of the question.

"I can tell when you're hiding something," Yuki admitted. "Maybe because we've spent so much time together, but... it's become pretty obvious to me. That's why I know how much you've hidden up 'til now. So, yeah. I'm pretty sure I'll know if you're NOT hiding something, too."

 _What if I can't do this?_ she thought.

 _Can't tell him everything. Can't tell him anything. Can't. Can't. Can't. Won't._

 _Won't? Why? Why? Why? JUST TALK._

 _Can't because he'll hate me. He'll hate me and I'll have nothing and I'll have to kill him KILL HIM without one good day together, one day of peace and love, and I'll die I'll die inside and I'll have nothing, alone, alone, always alone, always get what I deserve, but I'm a killer, it's natural to kill him it's what I do but I can never hurt him oh please what the FUCK am I supposed to do for my Yuki now when there's nothing I-_

Yuki could see her starting to collapse under the weight of his request, and he visibly furrowed his brow in concern. He gently raised one hand up and said quietly "Yuno, you don't have to. If you can't bring yourself to do it... it's okay. It's not gonna change anything."

"What if-" she squeaked out, her voice breaking. "What if I really can't?"

Yuki looked sideways and shrugged. "I'll still love you, of course. But I just... like I said, I don't want to doubt you. I want you to tell me something you've kept from me... because I want to be able to trust you completely."

Yuno tried to take some deep breaths and relax. Slowly, she inhaled. _It's okay. He'll still love me. I don't have to say anything. But he really wants me to... I want to make Yuki happy._ Slowly, she exhaled.

 _What the hell can I tell him?_

Yuno brought her fingers to her temples, gently rubbing them.

 _Why did I leave my phone in bed?_

She closed her eyes.

 _He'd know I was cheating if I used it, anyway._

 _But what have I not told him that I can tell him now? Without him hating me?_

Her chest felt tight.

"Yuno, really," Yuki said soothingly. "I'm... sorry if I'm causing you anguish. You can forget it."

 _Nononono not giving up. There's gotta be something. A part of something?_

"I, uhhhh... " she began slowly. "...I... "

She felt Yuki's hands set on her shoulders. Her racing heart skipped a beat, and she opened her eyes, inhaling sharply.

"Don't torment yourself," he told her, looking into her eyes. "I know it can be hard for you to remember things sometimes. After the Bridal Expo, Akise told me you have some memory regression issues, and I don't want you to-"

"I knew Akise was lying!" Yuno suddenly blurted, dropping her hands away from her head.

Yuki looked confused. "What are you talking ab-"

Yuno was smiling and excited now, and she couldn't stop herself from interrupting him.. "I KNEW he was lying when he e-mailed me about you wanting to go to the Bridal Expo and do a trial wedding!" She inhaled deeply again, relaxing herself and slowing her speech down. She felt such an intense relief at the realization that she had found some kind of answer to Yuki's request. "I mean, honestly, at that point I knew you were just trying to calm me down when you told the others I was your girlfriend, so of course you weren't itching to imagine me as your bride... "

Yuki moved his hands to Yuno's waist. "But you came to the bus stop anyway?" he asked.

Yuno nodded, placing her hands on top of his. "Of course I did. If there was even a SLIGHT chance I would get to do that with you, of course I was gonna go."

Yuki let out a small laugh. "Uh, yeah, that was quite a surprise Akise sprung on the both of us. Aru Akise, creator of the Mutual Ambush Date." Yuki's fake looked a little sad as he said the last part.

Yuno grinned happily regardless, giddy from the memory. "Best day of my life, though!" she said with delight.

Yuki smiled a little now. "It WAS a pretty great day, after all. I just wish we still had a chance to do it for real someday."

"Me too," Yuno said sweetly in return. She blushed a bit, looking a bit away from him. Yuki couldn't help but blush right back.

However, after a couple of moments of that shared affecttion, Yuno's face shifted to a resting expression. And then, she was squinting as though she was looking past Yuki, lost in thought.

"Why did he do that?" she said softly. She shook her head and looked utterly confused as she whispered, "Why would Akise have done that for us?"

Yuki glanced sideways nervously as he realized that Yuno still hadn't processed the night's conclusion. "Uh, well... you know, " he began, "Maybe he knew something about us without realizing he knew it. Maybe he just thought we needed the bonding experience at the time. Who can really say?"

"I guess... " Yuno muttered.

Yuki stepped back from her, a small smile on his face. "There, you see?" he told her. "You did it. You told me something you'd kept hidden. And I... I appreciate that. I just wanted... something"

Feeling her concentration return to the topic at hand, Yuno looked up at Yuki's face. His smile seemed weak. Off-kilter. Disappointed?

 _That's not what he was hoping for_ ,she realized. _But what else could I have said?_

"Wa-wait a sec," Yuno said, suddenly feeling nervous again. "I might have more..."

"Really?" Yuki replied. He clearly sounded excited by the prospect that she wasn't done with confession time, but he also appeared skeptical.

Looking down at her feet, Yuno's mind shifted back and forth. _Think of something, anything else. What was I thinking about a moment ago? Akise... Aru Akise. That bastard. Always trying to get between us, always manipulating and lying. But he helped us get closer, too. And he didn't always lie. Sometimes he said things I didn't want, though. I wish I could've stopped him when he-_

 _Wait, Yuki said that I was hiding something at-_

 _I can tell the truth without telling ALL of it._

 _But isn't that still 'hiding something?' Will he know I'm leaving stuff out?_

 _Maybe not if the truth I tell him is big enough. Or if it's all true the WAY that I say it._

 _Just focus on the wording. Focus and say it. SAY IT._

Yuno's gaze lifted once more to meet Yuki's eyes. Her face was resting, serious, when she finally said it.

"I'm Yuno Gasai."

Yuki smirked at her and chuckled once. "Of course you are," he said jovially.

She nodded once.

"I really am," she insisted.

It took a moment for what she was saying to fully register with Yuki. Once his confusion passed, his face quickly fell and his eyes widened. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that you're-"

"I'm Yuno Gasai," Yuno continued calmly. "I've been Yuno Gasai ever since I was adopted by Ushio and Saika Gasai. Since I was a baby, in fact."

Yuki shook his head. "But... no. How could that be? Is that true?"

She nodded in response. "You can tell when I'm hiding something, right? So you should know I'm telling you the truth right now."

Yuki appeared pale and began to visibly sweat. His eyes avoided hers. _He looks afraid_ , Yuno thought as she watched Yuki's reaction. _Shouldn't this make him feel BETTER? Why is he so freaked out? What did I do? There's something I don't know. Does he already suspect-no, of course not. What does he know? I don't understand how or what or WHY-_

Despite feeling her mouth go dry, Yuno fought to quiet her mind and continued. "And obviously, that girl Akise found? She's not me," she said.

 _True enough!_ she thought triumphantly. And somehow, for some reason, Yuki's face began to relax. He looked at and her and smiled just a little once more, although his blue eyes still showed the remaining doubts he was carrying.

"But again, how is that possible?" he asked, still sounding confused. "The DNA evidence... "

Yuno was careful not to make any moves or facial expressions that would betray her. Evenly and carefully, she answered him: "I think that... when I was digging that huge hole out back, I got a lot of scrapes and cuts." _That's it. Keep telling him things that are true without actually drawing the lines..._

Yuki's smile broadened significantly. "Of course," he said with confidence. "If some of your blood had gotten onto the bodies or into the ground, then... maybe... "

"And of course I opened the vault at the Gasai Bank," she confessed. "I only had to use the retinal scanner." She shrugged a little, giving Yuki a half-smile.

"Why didn't you just tell me all this back then, though?" Yuki asked gently. The good news was that he still looked pleased.

"I... hadn't thought of how I could explain it. Like the bit about my cuts that I just mentioned," she told him truthfully. _Because I literally just came up with that._ "And I didn't want you to feel any more confused by listening to me try. We had enough going on."

Yuki brought his hand to his chin, thinking harder about this information. "But who was the third body, then?" he questioned.

Yuno swallowed hard and looked away. _OH CRAP. I really painted myself into a corner here. How can I answer that without spilling everything?_

Ultimately, she shook her head. "Just an... early obstacle between us," she answered lamely.

Then, suddenly, she was hit by another idea. _W_ _was talking to mom and dad before it happened, and YES she_ _came home in the-"_

"She'd been antagonizing you and stalking you, actually," Yuno quickly continued. Her voice got more confident as she explained. "Like at the mall one time... "

Yuki frowned just a little. "The mall?" He seemed to not remember.

Yuno laughed. "Well, you might not have realized that she was a girl who was going crazy for you, since she was wearing a ridiculous bunny costume... "

"OH MY GOD!" Yuki shouted in revelation. He stumbled back a couple of steps. "Are you KIDDING me?" he shouted. "Way back then? There was some OTHER stalker girl following me around in that suit?!"

Yuno was feeling so brilliant by now that she totally ignored the implication of his last sentence. "There totally WAS!" she affirmed with a grin. "She really had it out for you and Wakaba, and she seemed to be getting angrier as the day went on." Folding her hands behind her back, she smiled and rocked onto her heels. "I had my eye on my sweetie even then, of course."

Yuki scratched the back of his head and glanced away in uncertainty. "Uh, thanks?" he said sheepishly. There was some clear discomfort to his response, but not any amnity behind it. His eyes flitted back to hers. He began staring at her, and he gave her a smile.

 _I did so good, didn't I?!_ she thought, her face beaming with pride. _I told him so much, but I didn't have to ruin anything! Did I do good, Yuki? No, don't ask that. Can't seem desperate. Gotta keep my pride._

Yukiteru stepped forward to put his hands around her waist once again. "That's more than I expected," he said happily. "I asked you for at least one piece of information you kept from me in the past, and you MORE than came through. I'm just glad you felt comfortable telling me these things."

Yuno grinned gleefully at him, throwing her arms around Yuki's neck. "Feel better?" she asked him, leaning in close.

"Quite a bit," he said honestly.

She couldn't help herself, and she pushed in hard, pressing their lips together. They drank each other in passionately, leaving Yuno feeling dizzy when they pulled apart.

"Wow," she said. Her smile turned playful. "You kiss like you're ready to take it to the next level. Hm?"

Yuki quickly went red and turned his face away. "Hey now," he protested. "I'm just... still prepping myself for that."

"Probably the only thing about you that HASN'T grown up a little too fast," Yuno retorted cheekily. "You can shoot somebody, but you get flustered if you see me in a swimsuit? You're so adorable."

Yuki exhaled shakily. "I'm... old-fashioned, I guess."

"Just remember," Yuno told him, suddenly a little sad. "There's not much time left for being old-fashioned."

He looked back at her with an equal amount of sadness. Maybe there was some regret in those blue eyes, too.

"I know. And this talk meant a lot to me. But I've still got some things to process and come to terms with... some things still don't sit right with me. Especially what happened a few days ago... "

Yuno dropped her arms from his neck and returned them to behind her back once more. _I guess we're not all made up_ , she thought. _I was hoping this was it. But things FEEL better now, anyway._

"I understand," she told him, looking down at her feet. She sounded a little hurt, but she was still trying to be supportive. "Just... try not to take too long, okay? And I'll try to give you... some space... I guess," she muttered.

"I appreciate that," Yuki said, lifting his right hand to her cheek.

As he touched her cheek, cupping his hand around it, Yuno looked up and started into his eyes again. "No promises on the space, though," she added firmly.

Yuki laughed. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting any."

He leaned in and kissed her once more on the forehead.

"...promises?" Yuno asked, seeking clarification.

"I didn't expect SPACE," Yuki corrected with a chuckle. He pulled back and dropped his hand to his side once more. "Sorry for the bad night," he told her.

She nodded, still half-smiling. "Me too," she said. She reached out her hand and grasped Yuki's in her own. "This was a pretty rough one. The roughest since... "As she explored her memories, she struggled to find a good comparison. "Well, not as bad as some," she finally admitted. "I mean... nobody died or even tried to kill us, and we're still together, so it beats a lot of the last few months. But it still FELT bad."

"We've definitely had worse nights," Yuki said. "I don't think this is going to compete much with being on the run from the police and having to pee on the floor in a storeroom, but how many people can make that comparison?"

"It's better than that," Yuno acknowledged. "And it's definitely better than our... ah... trip."

Yuki's smile went tight at the mention. "On that, I agree."

"So I guess this is just the worst night since... the last worst night, basically?" Yuno said, sounding very uncertain.

The sentence was so ridiculous that they both broke out in hysterics.

As they laughed together Yuki reached out and grabbed Yuno's other hand. The two of them stood, laughing together for nearly a minute as they fell into an embrace. Yuno's laugh began to go a little off-target, sounding increasingly unhinged, but Yuki just rubbed her back a little, soothing her gently.

As their laughter wound down, Yuki kissed Yuno's cheek and broke away from their embrace. He gave gave one last warm smile and turned around. "Good night, Yuno," he said. "And thanks."

Yuno sighed. "Good night, sugar bear. I hope you find the closure you need." She gave him a sympathetic smile as she watched him walk down the hall.

Once she heard the shoji of his room slide closed, Yuno quickly scampered down the hall and pulled open her own room, shutting the shoji behind her.

Yuno dove into her bed and felt around the blankets, finally bumping into her cell phone. Flipping it open, she saw what she was looking for.

"7/28 21:10  
Yuki and Yuno come together.  
HAPPY END"

She felt like her smile could light up the whole night. _I did it. I did it! I made my Yuki feel better, I helped fix us, and I told him a bunch of true things without blowing our happy ending._

Tears started to well in her eyes again — but this time, they were joyful ones. She closed her cell phone and held it against her chest, closing her eyes.

 _Every time I hid something or lied about something, I did it for you. I told you that, and I meant it. Because EVERYTHING that's a part of me exists for you, Yuki. In every action, every bit of my body, and every piece of my soul._

 _God, I wish we had more time. I'd do ANYTHING for more time..._

 _But I'm still grateful for what I get. It'd never be enough, anyway._

 _I need an eternity. An eternity to express how much I want to share with you._

 _...if only._

* * *

 **If you made it this far, thank you for reading. The reviews I've gotten and the feedback I've received have meant a lot to me. They're the reason I ever finished it in the first place! Any other thoughts, now that I've finally wrapped this one up, are also welcome.**

 **Some background: I always want more of Yuki and Yuno — don't most fans? — and I wanted to see them get a chance to talk things out more clearly and cleanly than we were privy to over the course of Episode 23. We jumped from them in a very bad place on the night of 7/25 to them slowly repairing things on 7/26 and then escalating the relationship on 7/27. We never got to learn much about how Yuno and Yuki viewed the events of Episode 22, either, except for a little bit of Yuki's internal regrets. I wanted to do an "in-between the scenes" story that explored all of those things, and so here we are.**

 **It's tempting to do the same thing for Akise and Yuki's other friends some day, too — Akise didn't seem to be view their plan with Eighth through the exact same lens that Hinata did, for example — and maybe I'll toy with that idea another day. For now, I'm glad for anyone who looked at this, and especially to those who made it all the way through. I hope it made you feel something. Sadness? Happiness? Additional closure? I'll take whatever.**


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